There are many
definitions of spam. For example, The Spamhaus
Project defines an electronic message as "spam" if (A) the
recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is
equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND (B) the recipient
has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission
for it to be sent. Others define spam more strictly. But the most general
definition of "spam" is the sending of e-mail that is both bulk AND
unsolicited.
When you open
your U.S. Postal mailbox each day and see numerous unsolicited commercial
advertisements that have been delivered to you, it can make you wonder why
unsolicited electronic e-mail is outlawed. Like all laws and rules, we should
look more to history than to logic to understand why they came to be. Although
the Internet did not become popular with the public until the early 1990s, the
Internet has been in existence for a long time. Prior to the early 1990s, the
Internet was used primarily by the military and university scientists. These
users were conducting what they justifiably felt was important business which
could not be interrupted by commercial correspondence. For most of the
Internet's history, ALL commercial correspondence was completely banned. Only
relatively recently has commercial use of the Internet been allowed at all.
Although this total restriction on commercial use was lifted, a restriction on
unsolicited commercial e-mail remains and for good reason.
E-mail has
traditionally been for communicating, not for advertising. Unsolicited
commercial e-mail is not only annoying but also without restriction and in
sufficient quantity, it has the capacity to render your e-mail completely
useless and shut down your e-mail server. Unlike snail mail, e-mail can be sent
in tremendous bulk with very little effort and very little cost which would
surely result in thousands of messages a day from thousands of sources were it
not prohibited. Since many people break the no-spam rules and send it out
anyway, we have all had some taste of what e-mail would be like if spam were
not prohibited. Spam understandably makes people mad. When they get mad, they
report spammers to their ISPs or other organizations or to the government
authorities. Bad consequences, such as losing Internet service or even facing
civil and criminal penalties, await spammers who are caught spamming. Needless
to say, you want to make sure that you never spam!
The Internet
covers the entire world. There are many different laws in many different
jurisdictions pertaining to spam. Plus, losing your Internet service or having
your domain blocked due to spam is a matter of contract that varies from
provider to provider, each having its own specific rules about spam in its
"Acceptable Use Policy." So, how can you possibly avoid spam when
there are so many different rules and regulations? The answer is to use common
sense. In a subsequent installment, we will discuss the technical rules and
contracts, but for now, let us just show you how to use your common sense to
avoid spamming.
